ACC All Access: Virginia Tech's Kevin Jones still getting his feet wet in his new career in athletic administration

Jones on his role as special assistant to the athletic director being an evolving position

Jones on his role as special assistant to the athletic director being an evolving position

Norm Wood

When Kevin Jones first arrived on Virginia Tech’s campus in the fall of 2001, he was as confident and well-prepared as any freshman athlete that ever came to Blacksburg.

Not only was he considered by most recruiting analysts the No. 1 football prospect in the nation in the class of ’01, he had the chiseled frame to back it up. After finishing his Tech career with the second-most rushing yards (3,475) in school history in just three seasons, and going on to play in the NFL for five seasons with the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears, he’s back at Tech.

He’s still as confident as ever, and he’s excited about his future after earning a degree this year from Tech in industrial design, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t stepping outside his comfort zone a little bit this time at Tech. Since recently accepting a job as special assistant to Tech athletic director Whit Babcock, Jones has been gaining insight to the world of athletic administration.

“Right now, it’s just a wide range of things,” said Jones regarding his job description. “It’s still an evolving process, but I think with my background being a former student-athlete and having the degree in design, it gives me a broad experience, so I think my job has been broad so far. I kind of like it that way. If I was just stuck with football, me just talking to guys, then maybe some other things I wouldn’t be able to do. I like the variety of it.”

Jones, who attended the ACC Kickoff media event Sunday in Greensboro, N.C., got his first taste of administrative process when he was asked by former Tech president Charles Steger to be on a search committee to select Tech’s A.D. to replace former A.D. Jim Weaver. Of course, that search produced Babcock, who after staying in touch with Jones became interested in bringing Jones on his staff.

“I just feel like he’s a servant-leader, and that just means that he’s leading, but at the same time the people that he’s hiring he’s giving them power,” said Jones of Babcock. “He’s not just saying, ‘Oh, this is my way and that’s it.’ We sit down and we have discussions on things before we make decisions as a team.”

Jones, a 31-year-old native of Chester, Pa., is responsible for representing the athletic department in on-campus and off-campus meetings, mentoring Tech athletes and fostering relationships with former Tech athletes, especially those that went on to become professional athletes.

Obviously, the idea is to groom Jones to be in a position to eventually ask those aforementioned athletes to make donations to Tech. It’ll be a new challenge for Jones.

“I haven’t asked anyone for money,” said Jones, who was chosen in the first round of the 2004 NFL draft by the Lions. “I’ll give money first before I ask for money. Then, I can ask after I’ve given.”

Before he gets to the asking stage, Jones is working on the getting-to-know-you phase of things. He knows that’s important if he’s ultimately going to get to the point where he can inquire about a donation.

“I think we’ve got to do a better job with (building relationships),” Jones said. “(New Tech executive associate A.D.) Desiree (Reed-Francois) is in on that big. Getting guys back (to campus), and also taking care of the guys before they get there, because we don’t want to ask guys for money the first time we’re talking to them. That’ll be something that we develop in a relationship, and then they’ll want to give back, so it won’t be as hard of a job to ask.”

Since his football career ended in 2010, and in the process of earning his degree, Jones had other career doors open. He served an internship in Switzerland, and had another job opportunity in Switzerland, as well as one with Under Armour.

He even had a Division II school offer him a position as a running backs coach, but he turned them all down to dabble more in athletic administration. His own experiences as a former college athlete have sparked his interest in an administrative career.

“I think as a student-athlete, guys don’t realize who’s upstairs and who’s doing what,” Jones said. “One of my goals is to kind of like bridge that gap. We’ve got a lot of guys and women upstairs who are former college athletes…You look at them as just administrators and businessmen, but a lot of times in these programs you have a lot of former athletes. I think if the (athletes) knew that downstairs knew that they’d be able to relate to people in a better way.”

Through his new involvement with Tech, he’s getting an inside view he never had in his previous life in Blacksburg.

He learned long-time Tech associate A.D. for internal affairs Tom Gabbard was a scholarship tennis player at Florida, an example of a fact Jones thinks could help make administrators seem a little more accessible to current athletes.

Jones has also gotten to mentor four football players, visit with some recruits while they were on-campus and met with Reed-Francois to discuss a fan appreciation initiative that’s in the works. It’s all new territory for Jones, and though he can’t tell you exactly where his new career path will take him, he’s anxious to find out.

“I guess there’s a little bit of nerves here and there,” Jones said. “I’m not ‘Superman,’ even though I thought was Superman when I was playing. The only nerves I’d say I have is just the unknown thing…It’s not really nerves, it’s just thinking about the unknown, wondering what the unknown is.”